1. The implications of community responses to intimate partner violence in Rwanda
- Author
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Mannell, Jenevieve, Seyed-Raeisy, Iran, Burgess, Rochelle, and Campbell, Catherine
- Subjects
Male ,BF Psychology ,Economics ,Emotions ,Intimate Partner Violence ,Social Sciences ,lcsh:Medicine ,Public Policy ,Criminology ,Geographical Locations ,Couples Therapy ,Sociology ,Residence Characteristics ,Mental Health and Psychiatry ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,Psychology ,Humans ,Public and Occupational Health ,Interpersonal Relations ,Marriage ,lcsh:Science ,Violent Crime ,Behavior ,Data Collection ,Traumatic Injury Risk Factors ,lcsh:R ,Rwanda ,Biology and Life Sciences ,HQ The family. Marriage. Woman ,Focus Groups ,Police ,Professions ,Mental Health ,Sexual Partners ,People and Places ,Africa ,Spouse Abuse ,Population Groupings ,Female ,lcsh:Q ,Crime ,Behavioral and Social Aspects of Health ,Finance ,Research Article - Abstract
Intimate partner violence (IPV) has significant impacts on mental health. Community-focused interventions have shown promising results for addressing IPV in low-income countries, however, little is known about the implications of these interventions for women’s mental wellbeing. This paper analyses data from a community-focused policy intervention in Rwanda collected in 2013–14, including focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with community members (n = 59). Our findings point to three ways in which these community members responded to IPV: (1) reconciling couples experiencing violence, (2) engaging community support through raising cases of IPV during community discussions, (3) navigating resources for women experiencing IPV, including police, social services and legal support. These community responses support women experiencing violence by helping them access available resources and by engaging in community discussions. However, assistance is largely only offered to married women and responses tend to focus exclusively on physical rather than psychological or emotional forms of violence. Drawing on Campbell and Burgess’s (2012) framework for ‘community mental health competence’, we interrogate the potential implications of these responses for the mental wellbeing of women affected by violence. We conclude by drawing attention to the gendered nature of community responses to IPV and the potential impacts this may have for the mental health of women experiencing IPV.
- Published
- 2018